1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a screw-in light bulb with integrated speakers. More particularly, the present invention relates to a screw-in light bulb having a plurality of LED lighting elements where the lighting elements are placed around the screw-in light bulb housing to distribute light in an even distribution to simulate or improve the light diffusion found in an incandescent screw-in light bulb. The lighting elements are placed in combination with speakers in a single unit. The screw-in unit allows a person to place speakers within existing lighting socket to provide sound or surround sound without wiring. The existing light socket provides power for the light and the signal for the sound is either embedded onto the power to the fixture or is received from a wireless transmitter.
2. Description of Related Art Including Information Disclosed Under 37 CFR 1.97 and 1.98:
Most houses constructed today include one or more can style lighting fixtures were the lighting fixture is recessed into a wall or ceiling. Many house is also include an intercom or speakers that are also mounted in the wall or ceiling. The installation of the lighting and sound are usually provided by different tradesman during the construction of the house. Some patents have been issued on products to try to combine the lighting and sound as a single element.
LED's have continued to improve in the amount of illumination that they can emit with multiple lighting elements within a single powered chip. The light from these elements shines in a fairly directional manner. The directional manner is undesirable in a number of installations where a more eve omni-directional light is preferred.
A lamp produces light in three primary ways: First, light is nearly always emitted through a hole in the top of a shade, projecting light onto the ceiling and sometimes washing nearby surfaces with a conical light pattern. Second, Light is directed downward (sometimes with the aid of a shade) to illuminate an area which is generally more confined and might be most often used for reading or close hand work such as sewing. Third, a portion of the light is ambient in nature and is used most often to illuminate the shade, making it glow, often changing the color and character of the light while highlighting (sometimes) aesthetic aspects of the shade.
It is the third which is hard to accomplish with LEDs. It is difficult to get an even wash of light across a lamp shade and thereby provide the necessary glow. The diffusion of light from LED's is further exacerbated with the placement of speakers on a light bulb where high frequency speakers also emit directional sound.
U.S. Pat. No. 1,272,843 issued to H. G. Pape on Jul. 6, 1918, U.S. Pat. No. 4,433,363 issued on Feb. 21, 1984 and 4,528,620 issued on Jul. 9, 1985 both issued to Weber, nations sound lighting fixture that is suspended free ceiling. All three of these issued patents disclose a sound producing element combined with incandescent lighting. None of these three patents disclose that the lighting and sound fixture is for recessed ceiling or walled installation or for mounting on a wall or ceiling nor do they disclose using low voltage lighting, a wireless receiver or digital signal processing to account for placement or fixture construction. The orientation of the sound producing elements is also not adjustable to direct sound waves to a particular location.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,776,018 issued to Cordier on Oct. 4, 1988 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,980,057 issued to Cristie on Nov. 9, 1999 both disclose screw-in combination lighting/sound fixtures. Both of these two patents are for a standalone screw in lighting fixture that can be installed inside an existing lights socket and include a wireless receiver for receiving audio signal. Neither of these two patents provide a recessed lighting fixture they're simply lighting elements for installation in an existing fixture and do not include digital signal processing to account for placement or fixture construction. The sound producing elements eight oriented to direct sound waves to a particular unidirectional location.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,083,753 issue to A. R. Turner on Jun. 15, 1937 and U.S. Pat. No. 4,953,584 issued to Kawahata et al. on Dec. 17, 1985 both disclose lighting fixtures for mounting on the ceiling. In the case of Turner, a portion of the fixture extensible below the ceiling and above the ceiling. In the case of Kawahata et al. fixture is mounted in the ceiling. Neither of these two patents discloses using low voltage lighting within the fixture. The orientation of the sound producing element is fixed within the fixture and cannot be oriented to direct sound ways to particular location. Neither of these two patents including digital signal processing to account for placement or construction of the fixture.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,455,435 Issued Nov. 25, 2008 to David K. Mathews et al., discloses a High Speed Data Interface to the AC Power Line through a Standard Light Bulb Socket. In this application a speaker is threaded into a light socket and the light bulb is then screwed into the speaker. This is not a single integrated speaker and light, nor does it provide omni-directional light.
What is needed is a combination lighting and sound bulb that is screwed directly into a standard light bulb socket. The illumination is provided from efficient LED elements and the light is diffused to provide even transmission of light that would be similar to an incandescent light bulb. The proposed application provides these features and functions in a complete package that can be installed in nearly any standard light bulb socket.